Tag Archives: Tactics

Marvel Rivals Review

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Marvel Rivals is a game that really got huge. For a while there is seemed like everybody was playing it. I would say it is even still huge right now. They keep on adding new characters and of course the gameplay itself is fun enough. That said, I don’t quite get the appeal the way that most people do. To me the gameplay is fine but not something I would end up being stuck to for a long while.

There isn’t a real story mode here of course so you’re really just thrown right into the mix. I was glad to have a tutorial though and did take advantage of that. Basically you’re in a team battle and either have to protect something or attack it. You win based on which team achieved their objective. Whenever you die you are able to switch characters on the fly. It’s pretty nice that you aren’t locked in so you can constantly be switching. The only real restriction is that you can’t have two people using the same character and that makes sense since it could definitely get real confusing real fast. So this way you sidestep that problem completely. As a result I got to play as numerous characters even over the course of a few matches.

The characters are divided into different classes and all have different ways of playing. My favorite character was easily Human Torch. It felt nice being able to fly around and deal out devastating blows to my opponents. I contributed quite heavily in the first match where I scored over 30 KOs. We won that round and it was the perfect way to start. I doubt Torch is one of the most broken characters or anything like that but his moveset is absolutely solid. Whenever you have a projectile fighter like this, you can bet that I’ll enjoy them.

My second favorite character was Groot. He may not be able to fly but his long reach works great as a main attack. I would say the only real downside is that his special moves are a bit boring. He can summon walls to bock incoming attacks which is pretty nice but it doesn’t actually deal damage the way I would like to see it. At the end of the day you need KOs to win here and you get KOs by dealing damage. Still, I got in my share of KOs with the standard attacks.

I definitely didn’t end up mixing well with the brawlers. For example I died fairly quick when playing as Captain America, Wolverine, and Thor. It was just hard to get in close to the other team before I would be taken down by everyone waving around their lasers all the time. I’m sure there are methods to making those characters work but it was definitely a real tough trick for me. A game like this definitely has a lot of RNG as well of course but I won’t deny the high level of skill too. Good aim will go a long way here. The same goes for memorizing where all the health items are at. I’m guessing they are randomly generated but still limited to a few locations rather than just being anywhere.

The graphics are definitely really good. Some of the character designs will certainly take some getting used to though. They really went quite different with a few of them like Wolverine. That said, it’s a consistent art style and I wouldn’t say the designs are bad. I would definitely get used to them after enough time playing the game. The soundtrack is less noticeable with all of the shooting and everything. It seemed good to me but again I’m not sure with how much confidence I can really say that. Either way I guess it’s not ultra important.

I mentioned a few times that the gameplay isn’t super addicting to me and I’ll quickly explain. There is no single player combat mode here and no individual life system. So this means in the team combats everyone has unlimited lives until the match ends. For me a game like this is always way more fun when you have your own life. I know this doesn’t reflect in sales numbers which is why many games have gone away from that model but I still miss it. I’ve never liked the idea that I could be playing amazing and dealing tons of damage and I can still lose because the rest of my team let me down. It just doesn’t feel like this is the way the game ought to be played.

I would at least like the option of a single player mode here. Start out with 25 fighters or something and no extra lives. If you lose then you lose but that’s it. I would find it all to be way more engaging and challenging. Additionally it would force you to get good. Then if the mode doesn’t do well they can always shut it down later. Still, that’s just what would make me enjoy the game better. At that point I’m basically advocating for a completely different title so it’s not a very reasonable request. Just an explanation on why none of the Overwatch titles have ever stuck with me. I do hope this game continues to be successful though because it’s at least pretty fun to watch.

Overall, Marvel Rivals is pretty good. It’s not really a game that would hold my attention for very long but there is definitely a clear audience. I also imagine it’s the kind of game that gets to be way more fun when you know other people wo play it as well. Once you build up that community spirit then it’s really off to the races. You just want to get in there and have fun. As the character roster continues to grow, the game will only get more and more fun. I’m rather curious just how many characters there will be by the end. It seems like a game that could easily get over 50 characters by the end. The toughest part will probably be picking enough unique moves where nobody feels like a clone character.

Overall 7/10

Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire Review

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It’s time for another tactics title and unfortunately I am here to say that it is definitely not a particularly good one. As with the others that I’ve played recently, it takes away all the fun from the concept. The game goes too far in trying to be as realistic as possible and completely forgets about the fun factor. You always need a good balance in order to succeed here and the game completely forgot about that. It’s a shame since I think this could have really ended up being solid but in the end it definitely did not live up to the potential.

When you begin the game you get to pick which event you want to play through. Big history buffs will recognize the differences but to a casual player it all looks the same. Fun enough and all that but nothing to really hang your hat on. They may as well have only had one level for all the difference it would make. The levels can also be quite long as I managed to survive for well over a decade before dying and that’s considering that I had no clue what to do.

Aside from combat you can also make deals among the men, give them food, barter for items, etc. The game lets you simulate almost every part of a real war from back in the day. You definitely have a lot of control this way and I can definitely see someone getting a kick out of it but the problem is that everything takes so long. This is probably unavoidable for a game of this scale from back in the day but it also means that you wish it was not so intricate.

You want to be able to just rush in and start fighting but of course you are penalized for doing that. It puts you in a really bad position because you are meant to do all of the side parts of the game but in that case it will be forever until you see any real combat. The actual combat is slow enough as it is since you can barely move in each turn. It ends up feeling like a real RNG fest. I know a lot of it comes down to skill as well and I couldn’t figure that out either. So as a result everything ends up going sideways here. Not really the way to go about things.

At the end of the day this feels like a war simulation game but without any real hook. It doesn’t help that the graphics are not particularly good. They’re not awful or anything but they also aren’t testing the limits of the SNES architecture. You’ll forget all about them by the end, same with the soundtrack. It’s just very generic and doesn’t do anything to elevate the experience. At the end of the day it means that this is a game that will not withstand the test of time, not even by a little bit.

Throwing in a true story mode would really help for this kind of thing. Adding that in addition to the simulation mode would have been a really good idea. For starters it would give you a way to really identify with the characters as well as make you want to keep playing. There isn’t much reason to play through otherwise since there are no real cutscenes. You just have to absolutely love the gameplay and it feels like that would be a very limited audience. How many people actually enjoy that kind of thing? Give me a classic 3D beat em up instead any day. Then no matter what happens with my allies and the A.I., I know that I can do in and just start taking names. That’s a way more fun experience.

Overall, This is definitely not a game that you have a whole lot of fun with. It was too ambitious for its own good although even in the modern day I’m not sure how good a remake would be. If it can make things very cinematic then that could work but the key will be ensuring that every part of the game is fun. Counting up the money and distributing among the warriors doesn’t really seem like a good idea if you ask me. It’s just not the proper way to play a game and have a blast. Definitely skip out on this title if you can.

Overall 3/10

World Trigger Review

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World Trigger is one of those titles that was absolutely massive but then had to go on a really long hiatus. It seems like the fans have stuck with it but I would still say it lost a lot of ground. Going back to the original anime series, it was really an elite. This absolutely would have been one of the premiere Jump titles to beat if it had kept on going and ideally if it had stayed weekly as well. It absolutely deserves to be considered as one of the cream of the crop anime titles that balanced out both Shonen action and Shonen sports atmospheres into one excellent product.

The story introduces us to Earth, a world that was completely changed after an alien invasion occurred like 10 years ago. The humans quickly reverse engineered the tech and made a whole government group to combat the threats. In the present, we see one of the main characters named Osamu who is eager to become a full fledged member. Right now he is too low ranked to really be of use in many fights but he has to fight hard for his friend Chika’s sake. Osamu needs to find out what happened to her brother many years ago after he was abducted. Fortunately, an alien known as Kuga shows up one day who has incredible powers. Perhaps if Osamu allies himself with this guy, he will be able to achieve his dreams.

Things are pretty tough on Osamu right from the start due to how the power system works though. For example, Osamu has very low levels of Trion (Spirit energy essentially) so he can’t fire weapons or use swords with the same amount of power and speed that others can. He has a great deal of tactical awareness to be sure but how much that can help in a one on one fight will have to be determined. A great deal of the series is about Osamu trying to improve and this is done through his performance in the actual alien invasion and during the B Wars where he forms a team with Chika and Kuga to rise up.

The series has over 70 episodes which means there is plenty of time for a lot of adventures and character development. I do have to say up front that it is a show which does prove the filler allegations to be true unfortunately. Pretty much every episode is a 9/10 here and the only saga that was not nearly at the same level was the filler arc. It was still good but you could absolutely feel the massive decline in quality. I defend filler sometimes but I couldn’t on this one. I’ll get into that more later on.

One area where the series succeeds on a massive level is with the technical aspects. The soundtrack is one of the best ones that I’ve heard in a long while. Part of what makes it work is that the soundtrack is rather large and has a number of solid themes. So it’s not just one theme to hear over and over the whole time but instead a number of really good tracks that keep on coming. It’s definitely the kind of show where this really helps to enhance the fights and dialogue scenes. Everything becomes 10x more epic with this level of music playing in the background.

The show has a ton of in depth analysis and strategy in every episode so if you had boring music playing then this could get old quickly. The writing is super good so I don’t think it would ever drag the show back but this is the ideal combo. I would actually say this show is the absolute best when it comes to the explanations. The writer clearly thought it all through with a good degree of accuracy. You don’t always have the characters agreeing either which makes for a pretty good extra dimension. For example one character might give one kind of advice and then the next one shuts it down. So the character being critiqued has to consider both options and as the viewer you have to wonder who was actually correct. Naturally I tend to favor the more aggressive options here.

Then we have the animation which is pretty solid. I won’t say it’s absolutely top tier or anything like that but it’s really smooth and streamlined. The anime also really decided to show off in the final B Rank wars fight with a lot of super great animation. There’s one particular cut where 5 people are fighting on screen at once and it was super dynamic. I know it’s really hard to move multiple characters on screen at the same time like that so it definitely ended up being extra fun. The choreography is always there and so this is the kind of animation that will continue to withstand the test of time.

Then you have the large amount of fighting styles and weapons which are all animated well. The fact that all characters have access to the same weapons but have to choose their loadout before a match is pretty fun. It means you can always expect some kind of switchups and plot twists running around. You have to stay 3 steps ahead of all the other characters at all times or you will be doomed.

Okay now lets get into the characters here. World Trigger has an absolutely massive cast with tons of “hype” characters running around. It makes power scaling pretty fun and interesting. In a lot of ways it’s one of those “Any given Sundays” like Football where an upset is always primed to happen. With the exceptions of Jin, Kuga, and maybe two other fighters, the cast feel very equal among the hype talents. Then of course you have Osamu who falls below just about all of them but hey one day with his plans and intellectual prowess perhaps he can make a name for himself. Perhaps…he can control a World Trigger at some point.

First we’ll talk about Tamakoma. Reiji is a solid fighter who has a good amount of strength and is also good at teaching. He really proves himself during the series and while he doesn’t fight all that much, he generally looks good whenever his time to shine does come up. Konami is really the power hitter of the group though and while she also doesn’t get too many fights, her skills are the real deal. The villains are quick to make sure she is distracted during their invasion because they weren’t sure they could handle her. Now that is what I call real screen presence and hype. When even the villains fear you, that’s high praise. She also has one of the better comedic gimmicks with how she always believes everyone. So as a result she gets lied to a whole lot.

Karasuma is another good member. He’s a fun character and I like how he’s always messing with Konami but in terms of overall ability he seems like the weakest of the trio by a fairly significant amount. He’s just not able to keep up with them from what we’ve seen and everything about his toolkit feels painfully standard. Hopefully he’s hiding something.

Jin is one of the combat elites of the series and so it goes without saying that he is amazing in combat. I would say that he is far and aways the most powerful character in the series. Seriously I would say that it is not even close. So to see him taking names here is always a lot of fun. He can see the various paths of the future and act accordingly. This helps him do things from dodging attacks to recommending someone be put on a mission in a few months. The scale of his visions are really impressive and then he also has the best sword skills out there. Right now we can’t really put anyone as being more powerful. There is another S rank but we haven’t actually seen him fight on screen yet. We know that he can fight of course but he has to prove it. Jin is generally a really fun troll who likes to poke fun at everyone and that just makes him a whole lot of fun. I do look forward to seeing if he will ever get a real challenge though.

Now we have Osamu as the main character. He’s not a bad kid but he is far from being one of my favorites. For starters I thought he was way too passive with how he was letting the bullies rough him up in the first episode. He was really just going to keep on letting them pound away at him which is crazy. You have to be able to stand up for yourself in times like that. How can you protect others if you can’t even protect yourself right? It just doesn’t make any real sense there. As the series goes on he gains a little confidence but suffers constant setbacks. Osamu gets careless, makes mistakes, etc. It would help a great deal if he could win some extra fights but the way that he keeps losing is pretty discouraging.

Right now Osamu doesn’t strike me as someone who should even be a B rank agent. It feels like he would not be able to beat any of his classmates and Kuga is basically carrying him to the next level. So I really want to see some significant improvements out of Osamu and that will absolutely start to raise my opinion of him. In the meantime, I’m afraid he’s just not going places.

Then we have Chika who unfortunately has some similar issues. The difference is that she has incredible amounts of power within her. She could blow almost anyone away with her cannon but she’s super timid and also has a thing about not attacking humans. Yeah…that’s definitely not someone you want with you on an away mission where you need combat tested vets. Chika is working on this but until I see her get into a battle and really contribute she won’t be going up just yet.

So it’s very fortunate that we have Kuga running around here. He’s a great fighter with a ton of combat experience and he continues to get better and better in every fight. Now this is the guy that you want to watch your back. Even without Replica he can still fight at a really high level. He cooks a lot of the characters when using a basic trigger, much less his black one. His ability to detect lies is a pretty sound one even if it isn’t really used for combat. He’s also just a fun character who can have good banter with anyone. I definitely look forward to seeing him more.

Hyuse is one of the big invaders who shows up and he’s a solid character. He’s clearly less experienced than some of the other villains as he can bite the bait when insulted. That said, he’s still really good at strategy and has some pretty good abilities. We see that he is able to keep up with Osamu’s plans later on and you could make the case that he surpasses them. He’s a fun wild card to have around. Someone you can’t really predict at all. I definitely really like characters like that and he already adds well to the show’s dynamic.

Shiori is the communicator on the main team so she is always helping coordinate everyone. I would say she is really good at what she does and definitely deserves credit. She keeps the personalities from clashing with each other too much and always keeps control. Her role isn’t one that will often get the spotlight but she still deserves a ton of credit for what she has helped to accomplish.

Rindo is the general boss of Tamakoma but for now we don’t really see him doing much of anything. We know he does a lot of the gruntwork on the back end but I would like to see more out of him. He strikes me as someone who should be really good at tactics so he can probably fight at least to a small amount right? If he can’t fight I admit that I would be rather disappointed. In a world where you can be invaded by aliens at any point, you need to learn at least some defense.

Then we have Replica who is a really good ally to Kuga. This guy doesn’t really show his emotions as a sentient A.I./neighbor of sorts. He really comes in handy quite a bit and gets several big moments. It was always fun to see him on screen and he’s one of the highlights without a doubt. He’s not a character that you can easily replace. I wouldn’t mind replacing Yotaru though. This guy doesn’t really add anything to the show. He’s the comic relief but we have other comedic characters who are a lot funnier. I’m afraid that the kid just didn’t land for me but hey that’s bound to happen sometimes I suppose.

We really haven’t seen Amo doing anything just yet but I do have high hopes for him. He is supposed to be one of the strongest agents in all of Border after all so he really needs to show up here! This is absolutely his chance to make a difference and I am buying into the hype. So keep your eye on this guy.

Tachikawa is another really strong fighter though and he has actually gotten to show off his stuff. The fact that he can fight really well against Jin is definitely some real props right there. His sword skills are good and he’s a fun character. The guy is rather laidback when outside of combat as well, he just takes his orders very seriously. I can’t really fault him for that. His right hand man Izumi is also really good. He was doing well in the battle with the neighbors as well until he was hit by a cheap shot from behind. He should have kept his guard up but yeah he really did well all things considered.

Yuiga doesn’t do as much as the others but we do see why he is known as one of the top snipers in Border. The guy is definitely a great shot and knows how to get around enemy defenses. Likewise with Toma but this is why some of the snipers start to blend into each other. They’re all really good but it can be harder to really show that off compared to fighters where you have all kinds of combos. Snipers are at the end of the day just firing off their guns over and over.

Kazama is a really solid fighter and he is even nice enough to help Osamu out a bit when the main character needed it. Kazama has the right attitude for being in the army and is always really serious. I definitely appreciate having him around and while I think his skills are a step beneath some of the others we were just talking about, he still has a lot of serious skills.

Kikuchihara is strong but I feel like he spends so much time smack talking that he will underperform soon. The guy has a high opinion of himself and that’s good because I like confidence but I feel like he spends more time insulting other characters than just being happy about his own strength. His priorities are flipped and that is what’s going to cost him I’d say. Maybe he just needs to have another fight to impress me.

Midorikawa is a decently good fighter. He actually gave Kuga a run for his money for a while there which takes a lot of talent. He can be mean as a rookie crusher at first but he saw the error of his ways so it’s all good now. Sometimes these things just happen I suppose. He’s not one of my favorites or anything like that but he’s still pretty fun.

One of the better characters is Arashiyama though. His whole squad is one of the most heroic and for that reason they are used a lot in PR and promotional materials within the universe. They help get people excited to join Border and are always professional. it’s not easy to always be ready like that so they definitely get good props. His skills aren’t the best but they’re good enough. He gets the job done.

I would say Kitora is probably the strongest within the group. She moves extremely fast and makes up for her lack of trion with precision shots. I was super impressed when she took on one of the monsters early on and was zipping around the place. While it’s true that her lack of raw power will definitely limit her against the more powerful opponents, she would definitely be a super good ally to have around in any fight. The perfect supporting fighter for sure.

Yosuke is the kind of guy who loves to fight and when he’s battling he goes all out. He’s generally chill but seems to treat the job very nonchalantly. So even murdering his opponents like when he went after Kuga is something he won’t hesitate to do. Yeah, you could say that about some of the other characters as well but Yosuke in particular felt very ruthless with how he went about this. You want to stay on his good side.

As for Miwa, he takes the neighbor situation more personally than any of the other characters. He does have a backstory about this so you understand, but at the same time he’s not the only one who’s been through a lot. I think he could stand to be more reasonable but he’s another fighter who is fun to have around. It’s nice to have a few more antagonistic main characters like this to really shake things up and keep everyone from being too similar to each other.

Ninomiya and Inukai don’t have huge roles here but they definitely represent the top B ranks very well. They think super analytically and completely show up Osamu’s group. There is a reason why they are the top ranks after all and their teamwork was excellent. That whole final fight was super good and they get a lot of credit there. I look forward to seeing more of them in the future. Ema is a solid sniper and he also seems like one of the nicer characters in the series. He goes out of his way to help Chika even if he always has some excuse ready. Then you have his opposite Masato who is super gruff and always fighting very savagely. He doesn’t do much yet but we got to see his high level of skill which already makes him an intriguing character.

Nasu and Kumagai also made for a really solid tag team. The match didn’t start off on a great note for them but they still managed to pull off a good comeback and get some solid points even if they didn’t come in first. They had really good teamwork and fought really creatively. If they had a stronger third member I think they could really make some solid waves in the B rank wars.

Suwa squad may not be one of the strongest groups but Suwa himself is pretty fun. He consistently hits above his paygrade and shows a lot of good strategies. In a way he’s a lot like a stronger version of Osamu. I’d like to continue seeing more of him down the line. The guy is really resourceful and I know that he will continue to improve. He’s got the confidence to match his skills and potential.

Natsume doesn’t do a whole lot here but she’s a nice friend to Chika so I would say she is a good addition to the cast. Hopefully she can brush up on her sniping skills and really became an asset for later on. Now lets talk about some of the management figures who are always fun to see. First we have Kido who is extremely strict. He’s not corrupt by any stretch of the imagination but he does make a lot of decisions I disagree with. He’s willing to have a lot of friction and department battles over black triggers and a neighbor instead of looking at the bigger picture. We nearly had a whole civil war within Border (The agency) near the beginning of the series. So he definitely needs to watch out a bit with that. I do think he makes for a fun character in general though and someone to keep my eye on.

Shinoda is the only boss to actually get to fight in the series which is pretty cool. I’m glad that we have at least one character ready to defend the heroes and make the right calls. Without him standing up to Kido things could have been very different. He was also able to do really well against one of the neighbors. Yeah I definitely like this guy quite a bit, he’s another really fun character.

Kinuta isn’t nearly as tough or intimidating as the other characters but he does seem to really believe in doing the right thing. He cares about keeping everyone safe and just tends to take a really aggressive approach towards making this a reality. While other characters sit back and observe, Kinuta is ready to act. It doesn’t always bring about the best results but it is what it is.

Netsuki and Karasawa are easy to mix up to be honest. It’s not that their designs are super similar but their functions are. They both basically help get the word out and keep public relations at a high level. They are both good at their jobs and trust their instincts even if it means going over some of the bosses’ heads. I can definitely appreciate that because if you are a true pro then you probably know best in the situation. So if you have a strong gut on something then you just have to trust yourself. It’s the way to go here.

Now we have the neighbors from the main invasion. As the leader of the squad, Hyrien is definitely quite powerful. His weapon can easily block others with how many different birds it can summon and the versatility is really impressive. He makes for a fun villain to have to go up against as a result. I like when both the heroes and villains are making big plans the whole time and Hyrien even outsmarts Osamu at one point. One of the scariest things you’ll ever have to go up against is a villain with top tier abilities and smarts. At that point you almost have to just surrender because your odds of winning are not looking very good.

Then we have Enedora who is definitely more of a trash talker. Of course he is also very smart since pretty much 95% of World Trigger characters have above average IQ. His ability to use invisible attacks and strike from the inside is also super impressive. It was fun seeing this guy take on so many challengers and they pretty much got lucky with him. He came very close to absolutely wasting a whole lot of the heroes. Yeah this guy’s a great villain and while he may not get any more big fight scenes in the future, he made his screentime count.

Mira is next and she is another really dangerous fighter. The fact that she can summon portals and more minions is another really dangerous ability. What she lacks in physical ability, she makes up for with long range effectiveness. As long as she was on the board the snipers couldn’t really do anything. She had them pinned down with ease. She is also someone who always keeps the big picture in mind and you have to assume that she will continue to be a really deadly foe in future fights.

Ranbanein is probably the only villain with a really straight forward kind of fighting style. He can shoot massive energy blasts at all times and from different directions. The sheer scale of his firepower is really what makes him incredibly dangerous here. A good hit is really all that he needs to beat just about everyone. He’s really confident and likes to fight so naturally I appreciated the character quite a bit.

Then we have Viza who may be old but the guy still packs a punch. He actually holds his own against Kuga for a long while there. The guy may end up being the smartest member of the villains and the fact that he has a black trigger means he is really recognized as one of the strongest fighters. I liked him more than I expected to. The older characters can sometimes be a bit annoying and all but there were really no problems here. The guy still had a lot of energy and personality the whole time.

Then we have Osamu’s mother who shows up later on. She’s a pretty fun character even though she doesn’t appear much. You can tell that she’s definitely another brainy character so that’s really where Osamu gets it from. I doubt she will ever become all that relevant to the story but it was still nice to see her show up here.

Now we’re into the filler characters! Oh nooooo, well they weren’t that bad. While I was less than impressed with the filler arc itself, the characters definitely did their best. Xeno is just one of those annoying guys who is always talking a really tough game. He fancies himself as some kind of a big shot but he has to take a little girl hostage for most of his screen time. I never really warmed up to the guy much. I feel like he was just trying too hard to look cool and with so many really good characters out there, he could not stand out.

Lilith was better but she’s one of those characters who is a bit oblivious since she’s not exactly human and can be rather soft spoken. She eventually works up the courage to really help out and make a difference with her true powers so I give her more credit than Xeno. It just took a while for Lilith to really get going but at least she has more of an excuse due to her past than Xeno had.

Then we have the big villain Giev. I actually thought he wasn’t bad. He’s one of those villains who admittedly feels rather out of his depth the whole time but he continues to go forward with the mission no matter what. He starts to get punked near the end but at least most of his screentime was good. He had a solid design as well so the guy was definitely memorable at all points in time. Then we have his bot Charon who isn’t nearly as cool as Replica but does make some big moves near the end. At first Charon seems rather forgettable so the second half was a really smart move and definitely boosted the character a lot.

So I mentioned before that the filler arc didn’t really stack up but why not? I would say because you can immediately tell that it’s filler because everything is so forced. The characters are having way more trouble with the villains than they should be. It’s such a much smaller invasion force compared to last time so why are they being overwhelmed? The more you think about it, the less sense that it makes. That is the real problem here. There are also far fewer tactics in play here. Osamu gets his big moment about overloading some barriers but the plan itself was so risky and unlikely to work that it feels like more of a negative. There was a very real chance that he could have just murdered everybody by convincing them to go inside the cages. Not a smart move right there.

I feel like if that was a real story arc, the big A ranks would have taken the villains down immediately in an episode or two. That’s the way that I see it at least. It’s hard to really picture any other kind of outcome here. That’s the best way I can describe it at least. It’s still cool to see the characters fighting more neighbors and all but it’s no substitute for the actual canon stuff.

The show mainly has the big invasion and the B wars as the two story arcs and each one was amazing. Top tier story and a lot going on at all times. It’s why I say it’s like a mix of sports and Shonen jump and I can’t think of any other title like this. Also you can see from above just how big the cast is and that’s considering that there are many characters I didn’t even list. There are several other teams in the wars I didn’t really go into. Watch the show to see them all but the fact that the author can balance all of these characters is super impressive. Good luck learning all the names tho.

Overall, World Trigger is definitely a top tier title. I highly recommend the show whether you are a fun of sports, action, or just like good strategy in general. The show really hits all of its targets here and succeeds in each genre. In a lot of ways I would even say it’s satisfying a niche of sorts with a lot of high tier battles without constant end of the world stakes. A great deal of the battles here are friendly sparring contests but they still really grab your attention. The episodes go by quickly and you’ll be left wanting for more. Fortunately this is where the sequels come in.

Overall 9/10

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift Review

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I had quite a few issues with the first Final Fantasy Tactics game. I thought the whole laws system was pretty bad because it really disrupted the flow of the game and the penalty for breaking the law was too steep. You had to reset the game a whole lot. This game was evidently keeping the laws in so I was a bit concerned but fortunately it’s all been overhauled. My issues from the first game have all been greatly reduced. I won’t say the game is without issues but when you improve the gameplay, it stands to reason that the game itself will almost always be better.

The game starts with the main guy being pulled into the world of Final Fantasy. Now he has to try and find a way out but in the meantime he’ll meet some friends and try to stop some villains. It’s a classic save the world story where at the end you figure the kid will go back to Earth. Yes, this is virtually thee same exact plot as last time. I was surprised that there wasn’t a different angle here. If anything the main character has less character than last time so I would actually say that the plot is a bit weaker. Considering that you usually play RPGs for the plot as much as the gameplay, that was a bit of a heavy blow.

I wouldn’t say the story ever really gets to be all that engaging. There are a lot of sub plots thrown in like a treasure thief who is always rather crafty so you don’t know if you can trust her. Then you’ve got the mature right hand man who seems to have a shady backstory where he may have worked with the villain group. Some interesting tales in there but nothing that really stands out. It doesn’t help that the game uses a day system with tons of optional missions so after a wile it feels like most of the game is filler. There are 300 missions in the game but I believe less than 30 of them are actually the story ones.

The majority of these missions are dispatch types which you send out your minions to go and complete. As a result there is no story to be had in those. Some are hybrid missions where you could dispatch or beat in person. If you go in person I’m sure there would be some bits of story in there but why do that when you can send your minions off? It’s a lot quicker to do it as a dispatch and just walk back and forth to have the days go by so the mission is auto completed. Tactics gameplay is always long by definition so dodging battles this way is what you will want to do.

So lets talk about the gameplay. If you’re unfamiliar with tactical gameplay, the idea is to move all of your characters across the gameboard so they can either make it to the goal at the end or attack opposing players. Everyone has a set number of tiles that they can move across and then you either attack or use an item. You win when everyone is bumped off. When the level starts you can activate a bonus like extra power but a law will then appear and you must follow it. If you break the law then the bonus will go away for the rest of the match. This is a big improvement over how it used to be. In the first game if you broke the law then your character was sent to jail and you have to break them free which took multiple fights. You had to actually fight people in order to free the captive which was no good. It was such a big waste of time whenever that happened and it’s why you would ultimately just reset the game instead of going through all of that work.

So here the law system can actually be ignored entirely because losing the bonus isn’t a big deal. It’s also one less thing to worry about because the gameplay is super detailed as it is. For example, there is a class system here outside of the level ups and you can unlock new classes by fulfilling requirements. This is really difficult and I barely unlocked any by the end. It’s definitely not for the casual players but at the same time, you will then come to a real hurdle by the end of the game because the difficulty level just spikes up. I was barely able to beat the final boss and that’s mainly because I found a cheese strategy.

Basically the boss can’t see you if you’re far enough so you have to get just close enough to hit her with arrows. She will gain full health infinitely whenever she gets too low so the trick was to get her down to about 30% health and then rush her after her turn. This way you beat her before she fully heals. Otherwise I couldn’t find a way to get around that move. Also, aside from getting full health each time she would also put a lot of curses on your characters which really made things tough. Then there’s a second phase which was also intense. I’m not confident I could win again if I had to do a rematch since it came down to the wire.

Tactics gameplay feels very satisfying to win but also very annoying to lose because of how long each round is. I put many hours into the game as a result of how long it was. I definitely advise you to do as many dispatch missions as possible to level up your crew. Whatever you can do to get stronger for the final bosses is well worth it. You need to be strong if you want to clear it.

The graphics are okay, I wouldn’t say they really take advantage of the newer gen portable consoles though. This doesn’t look much different from the GBA game and there are no cutscenes here. You’d think that this game should have some nice looking cinematics by now but it wasn’t to be. The soundtrack is also more on the bland side. I couldn’t really recall any specific tune from the game because it’s all just standard fare. The kind of music you would have heard many times before but without a nice twist.

The game does have a ton of content to get through though so no matter what price you got the game for, it will be a fairly good deal here. Outside of the main plot there are a lot of side content missions and such to complete which will further extend the timer as well. There’s no way to really speedblitz through this game on your first shot so just enjoy the full experience and have fun. It is a game that was made with a lot of effort, that’s for sure. While the story may not be all that exciting, I appreciated that the game fixed a lot of my issues with the first title through quality of life features.

Overall, Tactics 2 is a big improvement over the first one. It’s still not ready to take on the mainline games or rivals like Pokemon, but I would be up for playing a third installment some day. Lets just get a different story in one of these days. This game was on my backlog for a super long time so it feels good to finally have this one completed. Now I’m one step closer to being fully caught up with the whole franchise.

Overall 7/10

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance Review

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Final Fantasy Tactics Advance has to be one of the oldest games that I’ve had on the back burner for many years. It’s been patiently waiting it’d turn and now it was time to see what this game was all about. It definitely goes all in on the tactical gameplay and there’s a lot of customization here but other parts of the game have not aged well which ends up holding the experience back.

The game starts with our hero Marche having a snowball fight with all of the other kids at the school. At first glance it seems to be going okay but everyone is actually dealing with something. The kids are actually targeting his friend Mewt a lot. Marche’s brother can’t walk so he isn’t able to have fun with the gang and the main heroine Riza is very self conscious about her hair being white so she dyes it every day. There’s quite a lot of unhappiness in the air and for Marche the main point is that he’s a pushover and doesn’t stick up for himself.

Well, one day Marche wakes up only to find himself in a fantastic kingdom ruled by Mewt. It’s effectively a palace like in Persona as it is created by his wishes. Marche figures it isn’t healthy to life in a made up reality like this and he decides he has to destroy the world. The other kids are not in agreement though and will do everything they can to stop him. Can Marche finally find his inner confidence and take the win here?

Interestingly Marche can almost feel like the main villain here in some respects. Think about it, to the creatures living in this world, the place is very real. All of a sudden you have this guy showing up to try and destroy the world because he says its fake. You’d assume this guy is insane and I can see why they were all fighting against him. You also have to ask yourself on whether these guys have become sentient and in a way is Marche actually destroying everyone? If all of the monsters will revert to townfolk similar to how everyone here is a distortion then that helps with making it okay in the end but it’s definitely an interesting concept.

Not really one that the game goes into all that much but it does make you double think what you are doing the whole time. The main focus on the story though is Marche trying to convince everyone that this world isn’t better. Sure they have super powers and live a life of wealth and prosperity here but Marche says that since they know it isn’t real, it’s like they’re running away from the real thing. I thought the game did a good job of not having all of the kids suddenly agree with him or anything like that. It was handled as more of a slow burn which was good so the kids had a chance to explain their side. All in all it may not have been constant end of the world stakes or anything like that but things do get cosmic in the end and the story was fun.

As for the gameplay, it’s your classic tactics style with a few changes here. So if you know tactics gameplay then you remember that it’s all about getting the right angles. You want to attack from the sides of behind an enemy for better damage as well as a better percentage chance of hitting the opponent. You can attack, guard, use a special move, or an item. You can control up to 6 fighters here and the enemy team will typically have around as many. It’s fun to think out your moves and try to get to the win as efficiently as possible. If this was played straight with no gimmicks then there would be no issue.

The gameplay can be a little slow with all of the animations and everything being unskippable but it would still work pretty well. The main issue comes with the law system that is unique to this game. Basically when you start a level there will be a random law that says you cannot do something during the battle. Sometimes it will be that you can’t attack, can’t heal, can’t use fire, etc. As the game goes on there will be 2 laws at once and then three. The big issue with adding RNG into the mix like this is that you can’t just make a plan and stick to it. You have to adjust your combat based on the law for the battle and there is no way to see it before starting the level. What that means is that if it’s a law you can’t hope to overcome then you have to reset the game.

After that you can walk around a bit (Since each step counts as a day and switches the law) and then head back. It’s quite a few extra steps that aren’t needed. Additionally there are random minions running around all the time and if you bump into one then you have to start another long fight. The level up system is also a bit different than the others as each action gets you some XP rather than a total at the end of a level. This is fairly unique for RPG titles but for tactical fighters I’ve seen this in the past so it makes sense. It’s not my favorite style but it is what it is.

There’s also perma death which is active on any desert level. If any of your members dies here and you don’t revive them before the match is up, the member is lost forever. There goes your equipment and level ups. I’m not a fan of perma death in any game. It’s way too harsh and just serves as a big punishment if you end up losing. There’s also a jail system here in case you break the laws in a level. Two strikes takes you to jail while one acts a a fine and your character suffers a penalty. To remove the card you have to play a few battles without the character but at the speed in which the battles are, that’s a fairly long commitment so it’s often better to just reset the game whenever you do that by mistake.

Then you’ve got some quality of life features that aren’t present. One of the big ones is that it’s very difficult to see which equipment is the best one to attach to your character. You can only see the stats for one piece at a time and can’t compare it so you have to remember the numbers as you check each piece one by one. That just seems like something which should have been easier. It’s also odd that you have to actually set the items to your character’s ability slots or you can’t use any at all. I think that’s a bit much and there’s no indication of when they have learned a new ability so you have to manually check everyone every time there’s a level up. Same with ability mastery to learn new classes.

So what I’m saying is the gameplay is held back by a whole ton of features ranging from just about every area you can think of. It’s definitely a problem. The graphics are good though. I thought the character designs were on point and the levels were good. Meanwhile the soundtrack was more on the unimpressive side as none of the tunes were all that good. It was going for a rather calm feel to it but give me rock or metal any day so I can really feel the tunes at all times.

As for the replay value here, there are a ton of missions to complete so that’ll help on that end. There are 300 missions in the game and you’ll probably end up beating around 100 before you finish the game. The missions have several categories including combat and dispatch. Dispatch missions are ones your allies will complete on their own and either take a few days or just some extra battles without you. So choose who you send out on a mission wisely since you never want to be without your best fighter for very long.

Overall, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance would be one of the weaker Final Fantasy games. It has some pretty good ideas and so the story ends up being the strong point here but the gameplay mechanics are what ended up bringing it down. If anything the game’s just trying to be too intricate and having way too many things going on at once. We’ll see if the sequel can dial things back a notch, removing laws entirely would definitely be a great start. If not, maybe there’s a way to just make them better. This is a really long game so make sure you really enjoy the tactics style before picking it up.

Overall 5/10